Adventure for the Day

Abang and I had an adventure today! I took him to KL for lunch with Ant J and he was so excited as we drove in to town, pointing out various water fountains, LRT and Komuter trains and other things that catch a 4-year old's eye.

I had set his expectations in the morning about going to lunch with Ant J and asked him to go pee first at kindergarten after his break because we were going to go straight from kindergarten.

As it turns out, he didn't. He said he "forgot". I can't really fault him for that because I also forgot to ask him if he'd gone to the loo when I fetched him from kindergarten. So as we were stuck in slow moving traffic (not really traffic 'jam', per se) he made that dreaded announcement, the one no parent wants to hear when stuck in traffic - "Mummy I need to kencing".

Then he excitedly suggests stopping at a Shell station (for some reason, he gets his kicks from going to petrol station loos ... go figure...), something I've done many times and have no issues with. Thinking through our route to Ant J's office, I realised that there was none to be had. Houston, we have a MAJOR problem.

Adventurous Mummy started looking out for road shoulders with grass or plants that needed fertilisation. We're still stuck in traffic on the Sg Besi highway next to the old Sg Besi airport and Abang started chanting, "Mummy, I really, really have to go kencing." That soon changed to "Mummy, I cannot tahan..." Mummy looked nervously at his booster seat for any signs of wetness.

Finally, I decided to swing left on to Lebuhraya Mahameru (no grass or the opportunity to stop available on Jalan Tun Razak) which is usually less congested than Jalan Tun Razak plus it has the added bonus of various flora and fauna. I looked for a relatively safe spot to stop the car and got him out to start the fertilisation process.

Although he was quite proud of having "helped the Uncle DBKL water the plants" I had to explain to him the dangers of stopping by the roadside like that. He was wondering about the hazard lights and I explained to him that we switch it on in an emergency. And an emergency it was.

Hopefully, he won't forget to pee at kindergarten anymore.

Cats: Our Extended Family

I just realised I haven't blogged about our cats lately. They've been getting along just fine although they didn't relish boarding at the Animal Hospital while we were away during Chinese New Year. Still, they took it like the neutered male adult cats that they are and whined and mewed all the way home when we fetched them.

Today I saw Harun playing with something in the garden. It didn't look like any toy we made or bought for him. Upon closer inspection, I realised it was a little bird. Not bad, I thought, not bad at all. And just yesterday I saw him jumping about in the garden and later he brought a grasshopper over to me. He and Thomas were playing with it until they got distracted by the real food I put out for them. Quite the hunter is our Harun.

Thomas is, well, Thomas and we love him for his calm and collected nature (read: lazy bugger). Always happy to finish up the food that Harun leaves behind and usually content to cheer Harun on when he's hunting something. Kinda like a "I'm behind you all the way, Harun!" type of cheer.

Having said that, Thomas is the craftier one. He has managed to get into the house by pushing his head against the mosquito screen on the window and then jumping down onto the floor. What's funny is that as soon as he's on the floor, he walks straight to the front door and waits there for someone to let him out.

Yes, I know, we used to think same thing too: What did he come in for?

We figure he does that when he's really, really hungry and is trying to get our attention. Lately, Harun has learnt to do the same. Except Harun is more adventurous. He would run up the stairs, come back down and explore the kitchen and the maid's room before he gets shooed out.

They still let the stray tomcats eat their food, though. We have 2 regular strays coming over for their so-called free lunch - Gordon and Percy (yes, our family likes Thomas the Tank Engine!). So far Gordon has not let us get near enough to him but Percy has let Daddy stroke him a few times before. He must have been really hungry then.

Gobble, gobble, gobble. I don't care if the neighbourhood cats laugh at me for letting you stroke me, I'm hungry dammit! Gobble, gobble, gobble.

Speaking of hungry, both Harun and Thomas have been eating a lot lately. It seems like Daddy and I are feeding them many times a day. And each time they 'complain' to us they're hungry, it's barely 2 hours from their last feeding. It's almost like having a newborn baby around.


Then there's Ant J's cat called Rabbit. Here he is in his full pear-shaped pose. He's also a very manja cat, considering his male. Neutered too, of course, but still, male cats are usually not as manja. Whenever the boys are over at Nenek's house, Rabbit knows better than to hang around. Once he sees us, he bolts! He only comes back if he's hungry. And even then he walks really, really cautiously - "maybe if I tiptoe quietly those little terrors won't see me" - and when he finally makes it past us he sprints to the kitchen.

Ah, cats - they're great for lowering your blood pressure!

Survival of the Cutest

Abang's moods have been swinging like a pendulum lately. They're worse than mine! The difference is nobody would say, "Aww, so cute!" when I snap out of my cranky mood and go back to my normal self. Whereas with the boys, they know how to switch on their Cute Switch that guarantees their survival.

Take Abang. One minute, he's all cranky and sensitive because someone had "moved his train set" or something mundane like that. And when he goes on and on, starting from the train set, to abusing the cat, to jumping on the coffee table (ensuring that Adik does too, because they are such a pair of Willing-Student Willing-Teacher) and other antics guaranteed to drive me up the wall, then I almost actually do try to climb the wall just to get away from it all.

But then, the pendulum swings the other way, and now he's all sweet and kind to Adik acting like a real loving big brother. He would take Adik's hand and they'd walk up the stairs together and declare, "Mom! I'm going to mandi with Adik!" At which point I scramble up the stairs and let them know that I need to be there when that happens.


Or, just the other day at my parents house, after a bout of running around screaming (for what seemed to me like no apparent reason), he needed a drink (you do get thirsty running around screaming for no apparent reason) so he got some UHT milk. Adik was eyeing it too, so I asked if he could share it and he readily agreed, and even held it for Adik to drink from it.

We all went, "Awww, so cute!"

Adik is learning the ropes too. Although generally more laid back and less sensitive than Abang, he's learning to show a bit of a temper. It's actually frustration because sometimes we don't understand what he wants.

So he will either bang a toy on the coffee table adding to the in-house design of dents and scratches or throw the toy on the floor. After a sharp reprimand, he usually has a thoughtful look - probably trying to decide whether to go all the way with a tantrum or take The Cute Way Out - and then bellows a heart-melting, cute-as-all-heck, "Mom? Mom?" complete with big innocent puppy dog eyes guaranteed to ensure his survival.

Over the weekend, Abang spent the night at my brother's house. Uncle Is and Ant G are obviously the flavour because this is the second weekend in a row that he's slept there. So much so that he has refused steadfastly to sleep over at Ant J or even Atok's house!

Anyway, during the half hour prior to sending him over he got a little excited and very revved up. Sprinting from one end of the lounge to the other (it's not a huge lounge so you can imagine how annoying it was) and "singing" at the top of his lungs. Then Daddy started the car to get him in it to go, and he started saying his goodbyes to everyone.

"Bye Wan! Bye Bibik! Bye Adik!" he said, and as he left he gave Adik a nice big hug and added, "See you tomorrow, Adik."

Aiyo, so cute. How la to strangle like that?

Drama at High Noon

Tuesday was a day full of drama and it started well before noon.

First, I was stuck in the peak-hour, rain-induced traffic jam from hell. I left the house at 8am for a one-day training in PJ which started at 9am, thinking that should be sufficient time for me to get there, find parking and join in. Unfortunately, the heavy rain that morning wreaked havoc on the roads and I ended up arriving at the training at 10am, instead of 9am.

Imagine that, 2 hours on the road just to go 15km (if that). I could have gone to Seremban AND come back in that time.

Then, while I was at the training, I got a call from my mom. Since I had a full-day training to attend, my parents came over to fetch Abang from kindergarten and then hang out at our house to watch/ play with the boys. Just after lunch she called to say our maid fell, cut her shin and is "bleeding profusely".

Good thing they were there! So after cleaning the wound as best they could, they packed her and Adik in their car and headed straight for Sunway Hospital. Abang stayed home with my auntie (better to split the boys up, less stress for everyone). At the hospital, the A&E folks immediately attended to her. Because the cut was very deep, the doctor suggested an x-ray of her lower left leg as well just in case there was a fracture. It turns out the bone wasn't fractured.

While she waited to get stitched up (6 stitches in total), my parents then took Adik with them to go fetch Cuz from school. Since all this happened so suddenly, there was no time to try and re-schedule anybody else to fetch him. Plus, since our maid was being attended to, they figured they can let her rest and wait at the hospital until they come back after fetching Cuz from school and sending him to his tuition class.

In fact, in their (understandable) haste to get her to the hospital, they forgot to bring Adik's shoes or even a fresh diaper. So Adik had to be carried around all the time in a sagging diaper and Atok maintains that Adik was "very co-operative" the whole time at the hospital.

By the time I came home - a journey which took only 25 minutes - everybody was back too. I went to ask our maid how she was when I noticed that the safety gate to the kitchen was not there.

According to the adults in the house, Abang had shaken it until he managed to dislodge it off the wall and either a) he fell on it, or b) it fell on him. No major damage done, except maybe to the wall which had paint flakes scraped off it. Oh, and Abang was fine.

After all that happened during the day, I just put the safety gate back and didn't ask anymore questions. I'm not sure I was ready for more drama!

Blasts From the Past

Once upon a time, back in my *ahem* younger days when I used to drive faster than I do now, I crashed and wrecked my car, resulting in it being a write-off. The damage was quite extensive and the quote to repair it was about 1.5 times the value of the car, even after the quote was adjusted downwards.

I remember exactly what happened. After going too fast for my own good on a wet and slippery road around a bend, I lost control and in my panic, I had without even realising it pressed down hard on the accelerator pedal. So the car was swerving left, right, left, right. When I realised the engine was screaming because it was trying to go at full speed, I immediately lifted my foot off the pedal. And that's when the wheels straightened again and the car stopped swerving.

Good news, but only if the wheels had straightened when the car was facing stratight towards the road. Unfortunately, at that time it was headed for the concrete curb you see on the left of the picture. I took the picture after the AAM folks had pulled it out of the curb and placed it ready to be towed.

Then, a few months ago, I saw my old car! It was out and about near Selayang and it was a bright red colour with bigger rims and a bodykit. I asked a friend of mine who sells insurance and she said that technically, it is possible to re-register a car that was written off, as long as Puspakom certifies that it is indeed roadworthy again.

So there you go - apparently it is possible!

Another blast from the past happened just a couple of weeks ago.

This is a funny story. Ant J had her old Peugot for, what, 7 years I think and was accident-free and did not suffer any major mishaps. The day, THE VERY DAY, that we took it to the second-hand car dealer to sell it was the day the windscreen got hit by a rock and created a really big crack in it. It was obviously protesting at being let go.

Then, 11 years down the line, I saw Ant J's old Peugot running around on the LDP! I didn't realise it was still alive and kicking.

Talk about the heebie-jeebies.

Boys are from Mars, Girls are from Venus

(With apologies to Dr John Gray, author of Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus.)

Further to my post about differences between men and women particulary when they dine out in groups, I thought I'd post something similar about boys and girls.

I used to hear a lot about how different baby boys and baby girls are and baby girls are, generally, easier to look after as babies - they're less fussy, more mellow and not as active. So I decided to try and find out more about it.

Using a highly un-scientific survey method and a super-small sample size of 5, I set about asking people I know (and people I'd just met!) who have both boys and girls whether or not the myth is true.

Apparently, it is. Practically all 5 of my sample size responded with an enthusiastic, "Oh, yes. Very different. My daughter was no fuss at all, I nursed her until she was 2+years old. My son? I gave up after 3 months. Couldn't tahan. Wanted to comfort feed all the time."

With respect to how active they are, I decided to use another highly un-scientific method of personal observation. Generally, I notice that little toddler girls are less prone to climbing up and down their highchair compared to boys. When Daddy and I were in Sydney, we ate out for all our meals and we noticed the same thing. Girls were more content to sit in their highchair or stroller and not fidget as much or demand to be let out. Just give them something to play with or occupy their attention and you're good to go.

Our boys, on the other hand ... If we're out for a meal, we usually have to let them loose (even struggle if they're carried) until the food arrives. And even then, we let the food cool down a little until it's absolutely ready to be eaten. And then only we get them to sit down to eat. Otherwise, there's no way they'd sit still waiting for the food to arrive. Even colour pencils and activity books aren't enough (unless the restaurant supplies them).

Another difference - homework attitude! This was most apparent when we went to visit my auntie who normally has her grandchildren (2 girls and 1 boy) at her house in the daytime on weekdays. When we arrived, both girls were dilligently doing their homework. The boy was lying flat in front of the TV.

The girls didn't need to be pushed or hovered over to make sure they did their homework. They just did it on their own. And very neatly to! (One of them was using a ruler to write her capital "E".)

I asked my auntie, "Doesn't he have homework too?"

"Adaaaa... but he keeps pushing it to 'later'. In the end, I have to coax and even scold him," she told me.

My mom tried to engage him in the subject. "Do you have homework today?" she asked him.

"Yes." His eyes never left the TV.

"Can I see it?" My mom doesn't give up.

"Sure. Take la. It's in my school bag." His body was firmly rooted on the cushion in front of the TV.

Eventually she gave up.

Oh ya, a few months ago Abang tipped the coffee table over. There I was, just minding my own business, when suddenly I heard this loud "CRASH". I turned and there was the coffee table, on its top, legs pointing upwards and Abang with the most horrified look on his face feeling absolutely remorseful.

I decided that it would have been counterproductive to give him a good scolding because he already looked like he was about to burst into tears. So just a mild rebuke, ending with a "Don't do that again" but not before I went on about how lucky we all were that it didn't hit the TV cabinet doors which were made of glass. (The table landed about an inch away from the TV cabinet.)

Somehow I can't imagine a little three and a half year old girl doing that!

Holiday Headache

Abang has been having a rather exciting week, this week being school holidays. As I organise activities for him, I notice that our stash of panadol is fast depleting.

On Tuesday, I took him to IKEA bright and early for brunch with Auntie Adeline and Little A, J and K.

It turns out Little A and Little J were both at Smaland already when we arrived. But that's ok, because Abang wouldn't leave my side anyway, except to play in the little play area at the main restaurant while I went to get our food. It was nice, not too zoolike, and Abang got some solid Mummy time (he has some pent-up anger lately, for reasons I won't go into right now, so one-on-one time helps a great deal).

After that, we offered to take Little A with us to have lunch with my parents and Cuz. That was nice because Abang had never really taken to playing with Little A and Little J - I think he's a bit intimidated because they're both rather, shall we say, exuberant and he's quite timid. Still, that day was a different matter altogether. They got along like a house on fire!

On Wednesday, it was Pusat Sains Negara with Cuz. It's currently free entry until the end of the month in conjunction with an exhibition they have on there. A lot of really cool stuff for the kids to play with and experiment.

Today, it was swimming at Cuz's apartment pool with Adik as well. Adik's just recovered from a bout of flu so I thought he would have fun too. And he did! Initially he was a bit hesitant about getting into the wading pool. Then when he saw Abang and me do it, he came in and his face just lit up. I forgot their floaties, so the 3 of us stayed in the wading pool while Cuz swam in the regular pool but occasionally joined us.

At one point, Abang gave me a huge hug while I was sitting in the wading pool and the 3 of us got dunked underwater. Adik came up with this "WHOA! Wtf was that?" look on his face. Abang and I laughed at the whole thing and Abang said, "That was my fault, I'm sorry mom!"

After a full hour of splashing in the pool, it was time to get out. I had intended for Abang to get some lunch followed by a nap. It seemed like the perfect mix of ingredients - tired out from swimming and food in the tummy. (Adik didn't have a problem falling asleep in the car.) That's because he had class at Tumble Tots later in the evening and I wanted him to be rested for that.

But, nope, he steadfastly refused to nap. Then I thought, ok, maybe if he naps on the way to 1Utama that might be enough too.

Nope. Nothing happening. Then after his class I stuffed him silly with an early dinner before leaving 1Utama, fully expecting him to fall asleep in the car on the way home and go through the night.

Didn't happen.

I got to start adjusting my expectations. And buying more panadol, too. But at least Abang's good mood moments more than make up for the not-so-good mood moments. Both Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde would be so proud of him!

How to Wear a Songkok

Abang and Adik have recently taken to wearing the songkok. They obviously notice Atok wearing it regularly and decided it's the way to go.

One day I took Abang to play at Kizsports and he took his songkok and wore it to 1Utama. The Kizsports staff were most amused! Of course he took it off when he was playing, but once he was done and we were ready to go, he put it back on again. Later he told Ant J, "Ant J, today I wore my songkok to Kizsports you know, just like Atok. Atok wears his songkok everywhere."

And when Abang starts doing something, Adik follows suit (I see a trend here for the next 15 years or so). Whenever he sees the songkok lying around, he immediately wears it. When he sees both his and Abang's songkok, he tries to wear both at the same time!

It's the perfect distraction item for the car if he becomes fussy. In fact, I managed to get some shots of him putting it on, almost as if showing me how to put it on.

"First, check for size: Are you sure it's yours and not your grandfather's?"

"Now, slowly slip it slowly over your face..."

"Easy does it..."

"And, ta-dah!"

Nothing to it. Even a toddler can wear one!

Houston, We Have a Problem

"Abang got homework again, over."

"Roger that."

Actually, the problem isn't really that Abang was given homework again. It's that Mummy completely forgot about it until the next morning when it was due!

So far, since the first time he was given homework, I think on average he gets homework between once a week to once every 10 days. Which is not bad considering he's not even four yet. Personally, I think at this age they don't even need any homework, but I understand that kindergartens are competing with each other - if Kindergarten A doesn't dish out homework, rest assured Kindergarten B will, and kiasu parents will flock to Kindergarten B thinking it's "better".

Uh-huh. Sure.

Anyway, Abang got homework again the other day. Since I took him to Tesco Mutiara Damansara immediately after school, we decided to have lunch at Pizza Hut. While waiting for our pizza, I got him to do one line of his homework (I think it was a page of lower case 'o'). After that, we did our grocery shopping at Tesco, went to Nenek's house and hung out for a bit, then went home. And it completely slipped my mind that he still had many many more rows of 'o' to write out. And the corresponding owl to colour.

The next morning, I was packing his school bag with his water bottle and spare clothes when I came across his school book. GASP! It was already 8:10am and I usually send him to school before 8:30am. Panic attack. Panic ATTACK!

Ok, ok, let's calm down. Maybe he can do half. Just half. I'm not too fussy about him not finishing his homework, he's just 4 years old, dammit! He shouldn't even be given homework. His teachers are going to think I'm such a lousy mom!

"Abang! Look! We forgot about your homework!" I waved his book wildly at him.

"Oh." Typical schoolboy all calm and relaxed about not having done homework.

"Come, you can do some before we go to class, ok? Just do half-la. Half also can." I couldn't believe I was conspiring - haggling even - to get my son to not finish his homework.

Without any protest whatsoever, he sat at the table, got his pencil out and announced that he will do it but from up to down (in columns) and not left to right (in rows).

"Ya, that's fine Abang." Like I care in what order he's writing those damn 'o's!

He gave me a blow-by-blow account after each column done. "Only 6 more to go." Then it was "Only 5 more to go." After he had done half, I suggested we go to class.

"No, no, I haven't finished yet."

"Well, maybe you can finish it at school." I was all fidgety because it was almost 8:30am and I remember how long it took him to finish his last homework.

"No, I do now." Not only does my son insist on finishing his homework, but I'm trying to get him not to! What is this world coming to?

Surprise of all surprises, he did it all in 10 minutes flat. And that included colouring the owl (and this time he did use only brown colour). He was so proud of himself, as I was of him.

I fact, I think he realised that he can do it quickly and it's actually not a big deal that the next time he had homework, he managed to do it all without too much fuss and relatively quickly.

Relative to the first time he had homework, that is.

Idiosyncrasies

I got tagged by joeina on idiosyncrasies. Hmmm ... where do I start? Initially I thought this can't be difficult, I'm sure I've got a lot of peculiarities and I can blog about. Then I sat down and thought about it and nothing came to mind! Is that a peculiarity?

Then I checked with Daddy and he got the ball rolling by reminding me about the time I arranged plugs in my parents' kitchen. Read on at your own peril:

1. I am a bit of a neat freak and my idiosyncrasies mostly relate to neatness. A very clear example was many years ago, when Daddy and I were still dating and I was living at my parents' house with my sister (not at all a neat freak) and brother (probably a healthy balance between my sister and me).

My parents' house is an old house which didn't have many plug points in the house. It was built back when there weren't too many electrical appliances to use in the home. Anyway, the kitchen had this one plug point which we used for many items - kettle, microwave, etc. To avoid overloading that socket, we would just use one appliance at a time. Which posed a problem for the Neat Freak Society (i.e. me) because all these wires were all over the kitchen counter. So I went out and bought 'plug holders' to stick on the wall, which would neatly hold the plugs and the wires would just dangle down against the wall. Nice, I thought, very neat.

Geez, my sister thought, bloody neat freak. And she would purposely switch the plugs around so that the wires criss-cross each other against the wall. It was so funny, because I would walk in the kitchen, see the wires all criss-crossed and immediately (almost without thinking) set about re-arranging them.

One time when it was neatly arranged, I went to the kitchen and when she saw me she started criss-crossing them, all the while giving me this evil look. I didn't realise at the time that she was just sakat-ing me and I gave her a what-are-you-doing-that-for look and put them back neatly. That's when she ran out of the kitchen screaming.

2. I'm a bit anal when it comes to the children's toys. I go nuts if one piece from a set is missing - the whole set must always be together. For example, those shape sorter toys. It really bugs me if there are 9 shapes and I can only find 7, or 8. I start moving furniture to see if it crawled under the sofa or cabinet. Similary with legos, Thomas train sets, crayons and colour pencils. Right now Adik's crayon set is missing 2 colours and I'm pulling my hair out.

3. I'm also a bit anal about not mixing different toys in the same box. Sure, they have one general toy box to stuff non-categorised toys (not that I categorise toys, really, but I mean loose toys). But legos must ALL be in the lego box, Thomas train set pieces must ALL be in the Thomas bag, shape sorters ALL go into the shape sorter container. And jigsaw puzzles are, of course, always in their respective boxes and never mixed up.

Woe betide anyone who puts the children's - gasp! - books into the toy box.

4. On a separate note, I can move my ears without touching them! (And without anyone else touching them, either.)

I'd write some more but I'm beginning to scare myself just reading this.

Adeline, you're next. You're it!

New Best Friends

Since becoming a parent, I've made some new friends. Actually, they've always been there for me, but having little children in the home has made me closer to them.

New Best Friend #1: UHU Glue

It's amazing how much damage little fingers can cause. I've lost count how many items I've had to glue back together. The latest one was this big porcelain vase with plastic flowers in them which Adik very sneekily pulled down with one hand. Just like that, it toppled over and suddenly one big vase became many pieces of vase.

(I know, I know, what's a big porcelain vase doing in a house with rambunctious boys? Beats me.)

New Best Friend #2: Sellotape

When Abang was much younger, I was too. And I was also more kiasu. I'd buy him all these children's books and read them to him and try to get him to sit down and point out the words. Unfortunately, he was more interested in pulling the words out to him. Rip! Rip! Rip!

So I spent many hours repairing his books using sellotape or masking tape, depending on the severity of the tear. One child and years of wisdom later, I have learnt to buy thick board books that don't rip as easily.

But somehow, Adik still manages to tear even the thick board books! See this picture, this nice peaceful picture of 2 boys sitting quietly minding their own business. Don't be fooled. What you don't see, is adik surreptitiously ripping apart one of his books.


As for Abang, well, he's very studiously drawing a masterpiece on the floor. See next Best Friend.

New Best Friend #3: Rag and Detergent

This best friend is great when it comes to spills (accidental AND otherwise), accidents involving bodily fluids and, as they get older, scribblings. Scribblings on the walls, on the floors and even their chairs.

I do try to get them to clean their own scribblings sometimes, but my success rate has been going downhill. It used to be above 75%, now I'm lucky to get 50%.

New Best Friend #4: Dettol

A must for any new parent, especially when dealing with tiny baby spit ups. Betcha never thought something so small could produce something so foul smelling, eh? What amazed me was that even regular soap and water couldn't really get rid of the smell of baby spit up. Only dettol!

Dettol was our very, very good friend when Abang was taken ill and vomitted non-stop. It got rid of The Vom Smell very effectively. In fact, after awhile our living room started to smell eerily like a hospital.

Now I'm also starting to get well acquainted with the broom (for sweeping up crumbs - it's almost like Hansel and Gretel, I know where they've been just by following the crumbs) and my sewing kit (for sewing up trousers that are too big).

After this, it's just a hop, skip and jump to a real sewing machine for those tears in their school uniform - they are boys, after all, swinging on trees and what have you - and a variety of pencils and colour pencils for those homework headaches.

Speaking of headaches - and panadol too.

Public Complaints Bureau

I'm a little short of time today, so I'm going to do some community service.

Did you know that if you have constructive criticism of any government agency, there is a dedicated website and e-mail address for it? You're probably thinking "Ya, so what? Do they actually read AND reply to e-mails?"

Actually, yes! I wrote to aduan@bpa.jpm.my on several occasions and they replied my e-mail very promptly. "BPA" is Biro Pengaduan Awam or Public Complaints Bureau and is part of the Jabatan Perdana Menteri (Prime Minister's Department). One of my grouses was that I had e-mailed to the Elections Commission to ask how to change my registered voting address from my parents' house to my house. But the EC never replied (what's the point of having an e-mail address if it's not used?). So I complained and the BPA officer replied almost immediately and forwarded my case to (someone specific) at the EC. The other time I asked for contacts at DBKL about the maintenance of the Bukit Jalil park and she replied very promptly with a couple of names and how to contact them.

I really believe that more action from regular citizens like us can do more than one or two big-time elected officials. Here's a very simple way to get involved and get active in our community.

You want better service? Demand it! Sitting back and whining about it to each other isn't going to help. Take action instead.

Check out their website at www.bpa.jpm.my.

Tantrums From Hell

It's been pretty quiet on the tantrum front recently, so we've been having it pretty good. I guess Abang was due for a tantrum and we got it today. Two, in fact.

The first was at, of all places, 1 Utama. My parents, Abang, Adik and I went slightly early just to walk about for a bit before Abang's Gymbobs class at Tumble Tots. At this point he was already overtired, having had a pretty restless night last night and hasn't been getting enough Daddy-time as Daddy's been pretty busy lately. I also realised later that he was hungry and thirsty. So put all these factors into the mixing bowl and you have a pretty lethal combination just waiting to explode.

We headed to the food court to get some ice cream for the boys to share. Of course Abang held it, as Adik is way too young to know what to do with an ice cream cone. (He'd probably mash it on the floor, crush it with his shoes and then get all upset when he's not allowed to eat it.)

As with other children who rev up as they get more tired, Abang was prancing around with his ice cream. In the blink of an eye, the entire dollop of ice cream went flying across the food court and landed on the floor. Part of it landed on my trousers, but that was the least of my problems then.

Tears welled up in his eyes and the scream-fest started. We tried to placate him by saying it's ok, we can get another one but that just made it worse. As I always say, it's the ego that's bruised more than anything else. He was totally embarrassed about the whole incident. Then, the very nice ice cream auntie came over and asked for the cone back, in order to make him another one. (She's probably thinking more like, "Whoa, Nellie! Quit that screaming!")

And of course that made it even worse!

"Stop trying to calm me down! I'm tired of all o'you trying to calm me down!"

Scream, scream, scream. Major flailing of arms and stomping of feet, complete with screams of "DOH-WAAAAAAN! DOH-WAAAAAAN!"

So Mummy swooped into action and had to sling him over my shoulder and remove him from the scene. Regular carrying on the hip would not have worked as he was just flailing about too much. It took a rather long walk before the storm calmed. I think the stares he got from other shoppers got to him (I just ignored them) and he kept saying, "Tak nak dukung, tak nak dukung!" So then he walked about holding my hand still crying until he stopped.

It was so bizarre how he stopped crying. He was obviously ready to stop, but just carried on in small bouts just because he could, or his ego said he should. Then suddenly he stopped.

It went something like this: Cry, cry, whine, whine ... Ooo! Can I have that Winnie the Pooh?

He saw some Pooh stamp-redemption type thingy at Guardian Pharmacy and wanted it. So I seized the moment! Not that I got it for him, but I managed to get him into the shop to look for some vitamins.

"Let's see how many stamps we can get with our vitamins," I told him. We didn't get enough to get it, of course, but I showed him the card with the stamps and explained how many more stamps we'd need to get it. Then I realised he must be hungry and thirsty so we grabbed a quick bite.

That was my first experience of The Mall Tantrums. I'm guessing it won't be my last.

Oh wait, did I mention two tantrums today? The second one was at home. Fell asleep in the car on the way home blah blah blah woke up when we arrived blah blah blah cranky from the nap cut short, screaming, crying blah blah blah more screaming, more crying blah blah blah.

At this point I'm immune.